This is my eleventh blog post on Substack and the self doubt boulders have been quietly creeping onto my shoulders. Drawing them in this collage photo has been a powerful visualization tool so I can crumble them away!
Last night, I questioned myself both awake and in my dreams how to make this blog a great space to experience and sleep was fitful. I confess that overthinking is an issue for me! The bags under my eyes above echo this! I came to the conclusion that this is the place to share wherever my imagination wants to go and in whatever form calls to expressed. Pleasing everyone will never happen and unsubscribes will naturally occur. Do not judge yourself based on thisโฆIโm trying not to!
One of my favorite artists on Substack, Cathy Cullis, not only creates lovely art but tells enchanting stories of her everyday encounters with people. This post is one of my favorites as she describes her diverse creative world as interconnecting lands which she visits at different times. She shares that itโs okay to delve into many artistic areas and not have just โone true thing.โ This was so calming for me to read as I find this zigzagging happening more and more in my world as the reality of being in my 6th decade settles in.
Artistic experimentation brings joy and excitement! As Cathy reminds us so eloquently, โyou do not want to fall out of love with your creativity.โ Thank you for these great words of wisdom!
Stellar Affirmation This Morning
As I walked down the stairs this morning, Stellar Jay, was observing my descent down the 3 flight of stairs to our kitchen from the top of this evergreen tree. (Do you see the wondrous little heart below her?) We are friends and she gets a couple morning peanuts on our outside deck as I prepare my breakfast. When I go on my daily walks, she usually follows to alert me to any dangers like hawks or owls with shrill calls. Her constant presence and the connection with nature smooths tension away.
Wing The Pencil decided to follow my inspiration of Flaco The Owl in NYC who has become a folk hero of sorts. I love seeing all the random photos popping up of him observing people through windows all over the city!
The Owl
My lines started scribbling and this character arrived. Hereโs a video demo of my process using my Blackwing pencil who I fondly call Wing.
Black And White Simplification
Taking our colorful photos and taking them into a visual state of values changes our focus of what weโre looking at. It is very helpful to do this to find changes that need to be made to strengthen a piece of art or can bring wondrous shapes forward to use like in surface pattern designs.
Try this in your photo section on your iPhone. First, go to Edit and duplicate your photo by clicking on the 3 dots in the upper right corner. Next, open the duplicate and click on Edit and down to the Filters option at the bottom. Last, swipe all the way to the right to find the NOIR filter and click done. Ta Dahโฆyou have a black & white photo!
My college focus was textile design and I was trained to head to New York City to work in the industry for home decor or fashion. My heart was not into becoming a big city girl so I got a job instead with Hallmark Cards to try a new life experience in the midwest city of Kansas City, MO. I never looked back!
My creativity is wanting pattern design to become part of my artistic disco ball world again and have some sparkle time along with all my other pursuits! Letโs explore this adventure together here on Substack.
They Flew In Their Own Special Ways On Air And Water
Nature and the creatures upon this planet fill us with awe and curiosity. When I clicked this photo, the water snake was my focus. When I checked to see how the image came out, a bird had flown by at the perfect moment!
Thank you for being here and reading this creative blog. I love hearing from you so please take a moment to connect by leaving a comment, it would be wonderful!
It brings me great joy to create this for you! Iโll be expanding this blog with all kinds of creative goodies and have so many upcoming ideas to inspire you all! There will be no paywall (this is not me), so your small monthly paid subscription will be deeply appreciated!
Such a lovely read!
Lovely to see your jots and doodles pop in, its so hard to keep all the wheels spinning as my very small newsletter has been neglacte dfor the last couple of weeks, partily due to time and also feeling like I had little of interest to post. fingers crossed for a positve productive week.